Captivating

This is a true story. It all happened somewhere in yesterday....

    So a couple of my friends came to my apartement yesterday and dragged me out to dinner with them claiming that they were "kidnapping" me. This brought up a lot of fond memories from back home, even though the people who were kidnapping me yesterday were not from Chilliwack. But that really didn't matter. I'm drawn back repeatedly to the summer that I lovingly refer to as the "Summer of the Captives". The Captives is what we called ourselves that summer. Or rather, what I labeled everyone in that group and they kind of went along with it. The reason we were the Captives was because we would show up on each other's doorsteps and claim to be "capturing" or "kidnapping" eachother. Eventually we would always choose to hang out at one of our houses after biking or walking around for a while.

    The summer of the Captives is a very fond memory for me because it's also the summer when I met my boyfriend. You see, the Captives consisted of mostly couples after a while. We all started out as friends, but then we eventually paired up. One friend in particular had a few different girlfriends that summer but they were all a part of the Captives at one time or another.

    I find myself recalling one particular argument I had with a friend of the time about teenage love. I claimed (and continue to claim to this day) that I was in love with my boyfriend. His argument was always that it wasn't love, it was just lust. You see, he didn't believe that love was possible at that age. Even with his girlfriend, he was sure it was simply lust caused by hormones. We had this argument multiple times before everyone else got fed up with it and told us to shut up about the damn lust-love debate.

    It wasn't surprising at the time that a lot of people didn't think that my boyfriend and I would work out. We're both very stubborn and everyone thought that we would get at each others throats eventually. But that never happened. Slowly, all of the Captives went their seperate ways and all of the couples broke apart. That is, with the exception of my relationship. The one that everyone thought would fail is still going strong. It's hard not to be a little prideful about it. If I was still friends with the guy who insisted on calling it lust, I think I would be rubbing it in his face every chance I got. I'm not really a bitch, I just like that I proved him wrong.

    Anyways, that summer was before my grade nine year and everyone elses grade ten year. They all entered high school and I finished up middle school. Eventually, when I got into grade ten, the Captives were together again.... Well, in a way. We saw eachother before classes everyday but not much otherwise. I'm still friends with a couple of them. Acquaintances with others. There are also a couple I don't even talk to. Don't even know where they are. My point is, friends can drift apart, but that doesn't change the fond memories you have of the time you spent with them.

    So here's my assignment for you today: Message or call or text a friend who you haven't talked to in a while, just to let them know that you haven't forgotten about them.

Ciao!